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Initial Project Proposal

Year: _2014_ Semester: _spring_ Project Name:__ Semi-autonomous quadcopter__

Team Members (#1 is Team Leader):
Member 1: ______ Xiang Zhang___________ Email: [email protected]______
Member 2: ______ Jiaju Yue____________ Email: [email protected]_________
Member 3: ______ Yifeng Chen_____________ Email: [email protected]______
Member 4: ______ Huayi Guo ______________ Email: ___ [email protected] ________

1.0 Description of Problem:

For so long, the safety issues are always the concerns for the rescue operations. New
technologies and techniques are implemented to improve the safety both for the people who are
to be rescued. For some severe disasters, such as tornado, forest fire, earthquake, mine accident,
the scene of the disaster are full of unpredictable risks for the rescue activities. Thus, collecting
the information of the scene before entering is critical for the people who execute the operation.
Secondly, some small kits are extremely useful for the people who are in the scene, such as water,
medicine and food. A low cost to deliver these items are always desired. The rescue robot is an
effective tool and more and more robots with different functionalities are come into use.

2.0 Proposed Solution:

To solve the problems discussed above, our team proposed to design a quadcopter which can
collect the information or delivery a small load. The quadcopter, also called a quadrotor
helicopter, is a multicopter that is lifted and propelled by four rotors. In our design, the
quadcopter will be the carrier for our whole system. Our quadcopter will be an integration of
several commercial kits, including frames (plastic or light weight metal), motors, motor
controllers and flight controller. The quadcopter will be interfaced with an embedded
microcontroller, which is the brain of our system. The microcontroller will receive the orders
from the user and send them to the quadcopter to perform in the right way.

The quadcopter would feature some functionality. It will have the ability to perform auto taking
off and landing. The user will be able to use a controller to manually drive the quadcopter to
arrive at the desired destination. In our quadcopter, we intend to add a GPS module to navigate
the quadcopter. With the navigation of the GPS module, our quadcopter will be able to
automatically find the GPS destination and fly there. The quadcopter will be capable to carry
some load and deliver it to the destination. The concept sketch of the quadcopter is shown in
Appendix 1.


3.0 ECE477 Course Requirements Satisfaction

3.1 Expected Microcontroller Responsibilities

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For the proposed project, the microcontroller will mainly interface with the flight controller and
speed controller, remotely communicate with user interface and preform autonomous flight
control to a pre-determinant path from the user. Other functionalities and circuitry may be
included as the project progresses.


3.2 Expected Printed Circuit Responsibilities
For the proposed project, the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) will incorporate a microcontroller,
flight and speed control circuitry, three-axis gyroscope, Global Positioning System Model,
external memory and battery. Other functionalities and circuitry may be included as the project
progresses.

4.0 Market Analysis:
Our projects will not only benefit people in rescues involving natural disasters, in which the quad
copters various features allow it to avoid obstacles and easily deliver loads to locations
coordinated by the GPS equipped on the copter, but also to be helpful in other situations such as
construction and prospecting where mostly its more suitable for quad copter to deliver necessary
goods and equipment. As a result, the government would like to keep a certain amount of devices
for emergency use, as well as construction companies would like to have some in stack.

5.0 Competitive Analysis:

5.1 Preliminary Patent Analysis:
Prior to the proposed project, there exist a number of patents in the field of unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAV) in terms of control theory and autonomous operation system, some of which
correspond directly to four-rotor-wing helicopter, or quadcopter. These inventions, however, are
motivated by different purposes and lack certain degree of adaptability when related to the
proposed problem in section 1.0, which are all described in following subsections.


5.1.1 Patent #1: Germany Patent Application DE 102010051561 A1
Patent Title: Automatic landing of unmanned flying object
Patent Holder: Rheinmetall Defence Electronics Gmbh
Patent Filing Date: Nov 18, 2010
This patent [1], assigned to Rheinmetall, pertains to a method of supporting automated landing of
an unmanned flying object, provided a target destination with a base unit at the target point. The
base unit includes a transmitter which sends signals (EM, optical, acoustic etc.) wirelessly to the
receiver on the flying object to determine an approach vector that controls the autonomous
landing. This method accommodates various landing surfaces. The disadvantage of this approach
is the requirement of a base unit at the target location. As the proposed project is motivated
particularly by rescue in disaster zones, the mentioned base unit is likely to be out of reach.

5.1.2 Patent #2: Europe Patent Application EP 1901153 A1
Patent Title: Control system for unmanned 4-rotor-helicopter
Patent Holder: OFFIS-Institute for Information Technology
Patent Filing Date: Sep 12, 2006
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This patent [2], assigned to OFFIS, pertains to nonlinear automatic control algorithms of 4-rotor-
helicopter, or quadcopter, accommodating a non-ideal model of the center of gravity (CG). The
invention takes in consideration the imperfect mounting of sensors on the helicopter, which
usually shifts the CG, and thus provides more accurate and stable attitude and height control by
applying Lyapunovs stability theory. The disadvantage of this approach is due to the fact that
the invention is motivated by indoor surveillance purpose. Even though the attitude control test is
demonstrated successfully outdoors, most of the simulation is implemented in an indoor setting.
The approach also pertains particularly to a nonlinear control model, the algorithm of which
costs higher than that of a linear one in terms of microcontroller implementation.

5.1.3 Patent #3: China Patent Application CN 202783762 U
Patent Title: Four rotor wing indoor airship
Patent Holder: Shenyang Aerospace University
Patent Filing Date: Dec 31, 2011
This patent [3], assigned to Shenyang Aerospace University, pertains to a flight control system
that solves stability and noise problems of a vector-driven indoor airship. The approach targets
especially at the safety and low noise of the airship, and makes improvements by adjusting the
internal structure. The disadvantage of the invention is the indoor setting, which leads to the lack
of a GPS system on the airship that makes it inapplicable for outdoor activities, a requirement for
the proposed problem. Also the adjustment in inner structure may not be applicable depending
on the exact frame structure and components to be used in the proposed project.


5.2 Commercial Product Analysis:
5.2.1 Commercial Product #1:
AR Drone 2.0
From the commercial product online[4], AR Drone 2.0 is a competitive and state-of-art civilian
quadcopter. Detailed specifications are provided by the website. From the information, AR
Drone 2.0 is controlled by ARM Cortex A8 processor. Operating System is Linux. It is
controlled through WiFi Connection with an app on mobile devices. Several sensors and video
cameras are implemented on the device. The total weight with outdoor hull is 380g and 420 with
indoor hull. The system is programmable based on different purposes of users. From the video
recorded, the AR Drone was able to flip absolutely 360 degrees by clicking one button. It is an
advanced aero movement conducted by this commercial product. However, connection between
rotor and propellers is a plastic gear, which causes large noise and unreliable stability.
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Figure 5.2.1: An overview of AR Drone with some detailed viewing [4]


Figure5.2.2: AR Drone size and weight [4]

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5.3 Open Source Project Analysis:

5.3.1 Open Source Project #1:
Autonomously-Stabilized Quadcopter:
An autonomously-stabilized quadcopter was designed and built by Northrop Grumman engineers
and students from Northrop Grummans High School[5]. The fundamental concepts of
aerodynamics and control system were examined and designed by the school team. The
quadcopter can carry a payload in the air but it lacks the ability to pick up or drop the load in
operation. The project utilized Adruino Pro based control system which is not a valid
microcontroller in our senior design. It can be further improved by other advanced
microcontroller to increase processing speed and response.

5.3.2 Open Source Project #2:
3D Printed Quadcopter:
A quadcopter was designed and built by a team at the University of Victoria.[6] Since the
material of component frame and propeller guard were self-designed and self-printed by 3D
printer, the cost, under $200, was very reasonable and relatively cheap. Due to3D-printed
propeller guard and frame, it was light weighted. The frame was 176 g. Each rotor can produce
270 g of thrust, so it has sufficient payload capacity. However, the system focused too much on
mechanical parts rather than microcontroller. Hence the project also utilized Adruino system,
which could not be used by us.


5.3.3 Open Source Project #2:
Quad Squad:
A team of 4 Purdue ECE senior students designed an android controlled quad copter during fall
2013 semester as senior design project [7]. The quad copter was designed to be able to self-
stabilize while flying and was excellent on the GPS positioning and the user interface. It shared
some similarities with our project. However, since our quad copter is design to deliver loads and
throw in a precise location, it will require much better ability to stabilize itself during flight, let
alone the ability to adjust the buoyancy force when there is a sudden and slightly larger change
in gravitation force compared to what happened during normal flight.


6.0 Sources Cited:
[1] Citation: C. Blohm, N. Martinkat (2010). Automatic landing of unmanned flying object.
Available: https://www.google.com/patents/WO2012065681A2
[2] Citation: M. Kemper (2006). Control system for unmanned 4-rotor-helicopter. Available:
https://www.google.com/patents/EP1901153A1
[3] Citation: Y.Li, Y.Wang, et. Al (2012) Four rotor wing indoor airship. Available:
https://www.google.com/patents/CN202783762U
[4] Parrot AR. Drone 2.0 (2012). AR.Drone 2.0 Parrot new wi-fi quadricopter Technical
Specifications State of the Art Technology. Available: http://ardrone2.parrot.com/ardrone-
2/specifications/
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[5] Eric Hahn, Thomas Teisberg(2012). Autonomously-Stabilized Quadcopter. Available:
http://www.thomasteisberg.com/quadcopter/index.html#theory
[6] Therobotfish(2013). 3D Printed Quadcopter. Available: http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-
Printed-Quadcopter/
[7] Citiation: Dennis Lazar, Andrew Boldt, etc.(2013) quadSquad. Available:
https://engineering.purdue.edu/ece477/Archive/2013/Fall/F13-Grp01/



































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A1. oncept sketch of the quadcopter